forgerextraordinaire requested:

"Did you sit in a pile of sugar? Cause you have a pretty sweet arse."

shieldintheice:

shieldintheice:

Steve blinked in shock. That was quite forward even for the standard now he was pretty sure. 

“You really should watch who you say that to. They might get the wrong idea.” The solider was sure that was exactly the point but his word still stood.

Steve wasn’t sure how much the assurance soothed any sort of curiosity in him at the claim he was harmless but he let it pass. Eames’ smile was pleasant and barring any attempts on his life or the like he was enjoying this exchange for what it was considering his confused reaction back in the bar. Funny how life had a way of working it all into a much different scenario than what he had expected. On va voir seemed quite the appropriate motto at the moment in any case.

Coming to nestle in the corner, he almost snorted from the way Eames asked him to lay bare what he had promised him about his past. “Is that how you get everyone to tell you about their lives?” he responded, his eyebrow arching in amusement. He had no idea how exactly to start with that sort of prompt, his life feeling less linear in his brain than perhaps it should when it came to explanations. “Still I’ll agree to those terms if you could give me some direction. To start though—.” He set his tea up to steep in the water. “—I was born in 1920.” He had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from smiling and making it seem as if he was lying. “And unfortunately for me and Toto I am a very long way from home in a sense. Although…I did grow up in Brooklyn and I also grew up quite poor but not as unhappy as you’d think.”

Eames flashed Steve a bit of a mischievous smile in response to his question. Normally he would just ask certain questions if he wanted answers. It was easier, in his opinion, to ask questions and let people just naturally tell him what he wanted to know. He’d learned over the years that people tended to tell him more than he’d asked for and while he could have poked and prodded Steve for the answers, he preferred to actually get them the way most people did – by asking the proper ones. And in all honesty, he was rather enjoying their conversation. When he’d gone to the bar he hadn’t thought about anything other than forgetting the job he was in town to. He hadn’t expected to meet anyone. Then again, that tended to be his life – never intended to do anything and yet somehow it happened.

“What? Buying them a drink and flattering their ego,” he asked, shrugging his shoulders. If the other truly wanted him to be honest he would. Otherwise he could think of a lie or two that would answer the question without too much thought. “Sometimes. Ifn I think the bloke or bird would appreciate it. Otherwise that’d be a bit too easy. But t'be honest, I’m just m'self. Not my fault if people find me easy t'talk to.” A bit of a lie. Eames made a point of being easy to talk to. It was his job to get information and his ease with people meant gathering information was relatively simple. It also meant that situations like this cropped up all to often. But pushing it all aside, he cocked his head slightly at finding out just when Steve was born.

There was no way the bloke was that old. It was impossible. But staring at him, Eames knew he wasn’t lying. “That’d make you what? Ninety some odd years old? Impossible,” he said, ignoring the little voice in his head that told him he was speaking the truth. Steve didn’t look older than mid twenties at best. “Though can hear the accent in your voice. Definitely bit of a New Yorker there. But what makes you think I thought you grew up unhappy?”

1. fxrgxr-archive reblogged this from shieldintheice
2. shieldintheice reblogged this from forgerextraordinaire and added:

   Eames seemed to be genuinely enjoying his company and he had to admit he felt the same. Of course, he had a sneaking...

3. forgerextraordinaire reblogged this from shieldintheice